The present invention relates to an improved apparatus for transforming atmospheric water vapor, or non-potable water vapor vaporized into air, into potable water, and particularly for obtaining drinking quality water through the formation of condensed water vapor upon one or more surfaces which are maintained at a temperature at or below the dew point for a given ambient condition. The surfaces upon which the water vapor is condensed are kept below the dew point by means of a refrigerant medium circulating through a closed fluid path, which includes refrigerant evaporation apparatus, thereby providing cooling of a bypassing airstream, and refrigerant condensing apparatus for providing heat to the airstream.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,301,516—Poindexter and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,106,512 and 5,149,446—Reidy each disclose potable water collection apparatus comprising refrigeration apparatus to maintain a cooling coil at a temperature below the dew point to cause condensed water to form. Other prior art examples include U.S. Pat. No. 5,669,221—Le Bleu and Forsberg, wherein collected water or municipal water is simply filtered repeatedly until a desired potable quality exists. Other prior art examples for converting water vapor into liquid potable water exist within the public domain. U.S. Pat. No. 6,343,479—Merritt also discloses such techniques.
However, much of the above mentioned prior art is limited in scope to performing air to water conversion, thereby exhibiting an undesirable shortcoming. The prior art typically exhibits an inability to efficiently convert into water any quantity near the total amount of water vapor actually present in the atmosphere in the vicinity of surfaces maintained at temperatures below the dew point. The novel water production systems and methods disclosed herein are further capable of performing multiple functions such as water purification, desalination and distillation, as well as the task of converting moist air to water. The systems and methods disclosed herein will provide multiple functions at a substantial increase in efficiency with respect to the conventional techniques used for these functions, thereby overcoming shortcomings of the prior art and providing a much sought after solution to water quality problems which exist worldwide.